Transcript How Do News Agencies Cover Cancer? A Comparative Analysis of

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF
AMERICAN AND CHINA
COVERAGE OF CLIMATE TALKS,
2007-12
I CARE
Source: http://www.cop19.gov.pl/i-care
Won JANG
Univ. of
Wisconsin at
Eau Claire
Edward
Frederick
Univ. of
Wisconsin at
Whitewater
RESEARCH PROBLEM
Source: Google image
RESEARCH PROBLEM (CONT’D)
“common but
differentiated
responsibilities
principle”
victim and cause
RESEARCH PROBLEM (CONT’D)
How to bring China/India on board
Which countries should mitigate (funding
mitigation) and how much should be
mitigated
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
This study presented descriptive analysis
of climate talks coverage in the United
States and China and compared how
media framing has been used differently
in their news stories from 2007-2012.
Participatory
environmentalism
Authoritarian
environmentalism
Media Propaganda Model
Dominant
Ideology
National
Interest
Journalistic
Ideology
Media Agenda: News Agencies
Media Framing: "how to think about it"
Public Agenda: “what to think about”
6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study uses a quantitative
content analysis in terms of the
amount, key themes, source, news
geography, and types (localized &
mobilizing information) in the news
of climate talks.
METHODS
Sample
 UN Climate Talks (UNFCCC*: COP** 13-18)
 Key words: climate change, global warming, or
greenhouse, greenhouse gas (GHG), greenhouse
effect, or “CO2”
 673 stories were analyzed:
 Xinhua (N =424) and AP (249).
*UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Treaty
** Conferences of the Parties/Meeting of Parties of the Kyoto Protocol (MOP)
METHOD
 Measures
 Frames/Themes (Brossard, Shanahan, & McComas,
2004)
 absence (0) to outstanding focus (2)
 Sources (Brossard, Shanahan, & McComas, 2004)
 Localized & Mobilizing information (Cohen et al.,
2008)
 absent (0) or present (1)
 News geography (Giffard & Leuven, 2008; de Beer &
Merrill (2009))
RESULTS
IPCC report
NCCP* in China
Copenhagen
Accord
*National Climate Change Program in 2007
US/China clashed at Tianjin talks!
RESULTS
R2: How is it covered in terms of climate change themes?
RESULTS
R3: Are there differences with respect to information source use patterns on the
issue of climate change?
RESULTS
R4: Is there a difference with respect to how frequently climate change stories
mention geographic regions?
RESULTS
R5: Is there a difference with respect to how frequently climate change stories
include localized information?
 Climate change stories in the Xinhua (n=290, 68.4%)
were more likely to include localized information
than were stories in the AP (n=154, 61.8 %).
 But this difference was NOT significant.
RESULTS
R6: Is there a difference with respect to how frequently climate change
stories include personally mobilizing information?
 Climate change stories in AP (n=35, 14.1%) were
more likely to include personal behavior mobilization
information than were stories in the Xinhua (n=51,
12.0%).
 This difference was NOT significant.
DISCUSSION
The story of the climate talks is told in
different ways in different countries.
Media Propaganda Model
Differences found in the amount and nature of
climate talks coverage, specifically themes,
sources used, and news geography for readers
(media agenda).
DISCUSSION
Integration of Environmentalism and
Economics
Themes
Sources
Uncertainty and debate (controversy) in
climate change coverage
Sources used
Themes (discussion of science)
DISCUSSION
 The geographic regions from which reports are filed can be an
important factor in what perspectives are made part of public
discourse.
 Developed and Developing countries
 Both agencies tailor climate talks stories to their audiences
(e.g., Asian and American) and integrate information that is
localized.
 Limited number of personal behavior mobilization information
 Both agencies do not facilitate citizen's political participation among
the readers.
DISCUSSION
 Limitations
 The Online full-text database vs. Hard Copy
 Content analysis
 Future studies need to expand this work to investigate news
framing in a cross-cultural and an international context in
more detail using more aspects of content .
 Future research could move forward to examining how media
coverage of this controversial issue has influenced the
publics’ perceptions of and suppor t for policy.
IMPLICATIONS/FUTURE STUDIES
Gilley (2012)
 Public Policy Model + Public Opinion Research
 authoritarian environmentalism (top-down
policy): concentrates authority in a few executive
agencies manned by capable and uncorrupt elites
seeking to improve environmental outcomes.
 participatory environmentalism: spreads
authority across several levels and agencies of
government, including representative legislatures,
and that encourages direct public participation
from a wide cross-section of society
END